New Glarus Alt

Brewed by New Glarus Brewing Company
Style: Altbier
New Glarus, Wisconsin USA

Pours golden orange with medium/large frothy off-white head and minimal haze. Aroma is malts, fruit, ginger, and toffee. Flavor is similar with nicely balanced sweet malts and hop bitterness. Finishes rather sweet. Fairly light body. Barely noticeable alcohol warmth at the end. A bold creation by NG.

Hazy amber with a quickly dissipating airy off-white head. Aroma of malt, noble/German hops, caramel and brown sugar. Taste of sugar, caramel, dough and mild hops. Not sure what to expect from the alt style as I haven’t had many, but this one was a lot sweeter than the others I’ve had.

12 oz. bottle (2008) in a pint glass. I liked this beer a whole lot more this time around. Aging might make this surprisingly special. Pours a dull copper that gains a vermilion tint in the light. Clear w/ a two-finger soapy white head, slightly dirty. Initially has a slightly metallic aroma that gives way to a syrupy sweetness, dark bread, faint cherries maybe and a little woody spiciness. Taste is toffee, big malt profile and an unidentifiable, grassy spice. Faint chickpeas in the aftertaste. Medium-bodied, long dry finish ending in more chickpeas and vegetables. Hop oils come through on the tongue beautifully. Setting one down for aging out of curiosity.

Bottle at home ... First of the Post Darklord beers ...almost certainly thanks to some ones generousity ... Copper ...big bubbly head ... light sweet lager hop with a little pine nose ... pine hop front little bitter ... little soapy ... hoppy bitter linger... not my thing.

12z bottle from mcbackus. Nose of sweet light fruitiness (light banana and pineapple), an oaky vanilla note, and some light toffee. Clear copper with a big beige head. Flavor is Moderately sweet with lots of fruitiness, nutmeggy spiciness, and a background bitter note. Finish is very light bitterness with some alcohol. Wonder what the ABV is? Tastes pretty potent! Almost like a weisenbock, my favorite style.

Peach/Amber with an off white head. Aroma is crystal malt, fairly sweet, dried fruit, interesting yeast character. Taste is a raw malty character, yeast, light alcohol, dried fruit, light hoppiness.

Bottle from Bockyhorsey. Poured with a huge off-white colored, highly carbonated head over top of a copper body with some slight haze. The aroma was strong caramel and fruity notes with a touch of spicey notes (hops?). The flavor was strongly malty, but unfortunately overly sweet. The caramel, fruity esters (cherry especially), and sugary and spicey flavors ended up way too cloying for a style that demands much more balance, a firmer hop presence for sure (they were lost and gone). The bottle said there was some sugar added in there, and it literally made this taste quite Belgian-like, especially with dark fruit and spice notes mixed in there. A far cry from a true alt (yet from a brewer that normally nails German brews?), I would have guessed dark Belgian / dubbel if I was blind. Mouthfeel was sticky and highly (airy) carbonated. Many thanks to Bill for hooking me up with another bottle of my favorite style. Wished I could have raved about it much more, but it was a fun experience, nonetheless (and I’m clearly in the minority around here... but even on a hedonistic scale and factoring in that I like NG, I’m not digging it like I would have hoped).

12oz bottle. A Dusseldorf style Alt this is not. Cloudy brown-amber color, nice minimal head. Sweet, mellow aroma. The taste is reminiscent of Tripel in its doughy sweetness, but there is significantly more caramel malt. Deep and rich, doughy and drinkable. I’d think this beer was at least 8%. Great stuff.